Worksite Wellness Ideas: Nutrition

Employees generally enjoy sharing nutritional tips and trying new foods. Sponsor a “nutrition cook-off” and/or healthy potlucks.

• Nutrition cook-off. Teams of employees set a menu in advance and bring in prepared foods for an official competition. A dietician from the health department or local hospital or community serves as the judge. Dishes and foods are evaluated based on both health considerations and taste. Following the event, a cookbook of the teams’ recipes can be created and distributed to the entire employee.
• Cholesterol Control or “Down Under” Club. People with cholesterol over 200 mg. are invited to voluntarily take part. The invitation needs to be extended to all employees as the Wellness Team will not have (nor must have) access to personal health information. Offer a variety of services to assist in reducing cardiac risks. Gordian Health Solutions offers blood lipid management health programs for employees qualifying by cholesterol score. If employee gets cholesterol numbers below 200 in six months, offer an incentive such as a prize to continue progress. Continue to supply information and reminders for continued blood lipid control.
• Label reading contest. Create a particular food or food category. Staff Members must find the designated products with the lowest/highest fat content in the grocery store. Give coupons or other prizes for predetermined number of winners or participants. Or, offer samples of healthier meal choices based on label information. Show how these compare to less healthy choices. Put up results of the contest in the employee break room or at an employee brown bag event.

Other Worksite Wellness Nutrition Suggestions:

• Give freshly brewed decaffeinated coffee and herbal tea.
• Sponsor a healthy food “bake-off’ once a year.
• Give sugar and salt substitutes in the lunchroom.
• At gatherings, replace sweet rolls and donuts with bran muffins, wholewheat bagels, or fresh fruit. Consider offering other decaffeinated coffee and herbal teas plus no-sugar fruit juices.
• Serve no cost popcorn in the break area.
• Organize a cookbook featuring healthy recipes contributed by employees.
• Fruit or veggie of the week (or month). Put up an “exotic” fruit or vegetable in your lunchroom and see if coworkers know what it is. Staff Members can put their name and the name of the item on an index card. These can be used to conduct a prize drawing at the end of the week from the cards with the correct answer. To add fun, promote people to put down funny answers when in doubt of the real name of the item. Read some of those names during the prize drawing, and offer a prize for the most creative name. Divide the fruit or vegetable at the drawing and let those interested taste it. Be sure it can be eaten raw. “Unusual” meal items like star fruit are now readily available in grocery stores work well for this activity as many people have not tried these types of produce.